About HCSA SPIN
Our work with single parents and lone caregivers can be traced back to Dayspring’s early days in 2006, when we provided counselling, mentorship and like skills training to women who needed help. In 2014, we started Dayspring New Life Centre for women with unsupported pregnancies, and this pivoted toward single-parent families with the launch of SPIN (Single Parents INformed, INvolved and INcluded) in 2017. Today, SPIN supports caregiving and improved quality of life for single parents, strengthens their social support network, provides them access to resources, and empowers them to make informed decisions through our interactive self-check website.
Partner Agency
Co-Created with NCSS
Year Started
2017
Share Your Time and Expertise
Give from Your Heart
Our Impact in FY2023
Community Care
Our services are designed to empower single parents who lack support, so that they may become more resilient and self-reliant. We help them to attain increased capacity in parenting / caregiving, social and prosocial support, practical resources and their psychosocial wellbeing.
Aspirations that single parents have to upgrade their qualifications go largely unfulfilled due to time poverty and financial pressure. Even if they are able to balance employment and childcare, single parents find themselves in the unenviable position of trying to earn an income sufficient for a family, without the support of any other household member. Finances are strained, ‘luxuries’ are felt to be unnecessary and financial help and assistance are often thought to be for others ‘in greater need.’
Single parents within this study placed great emphasis on spending quality time with their families, highlighting the importance placed on family bonding. These individuals carry the full ‘burden’ of parenthood without the support of another individual as would be seen in a ‘traditional’ family structure, and subsequently feel the pressure of these expectations. Time for personal development, whether it is health improvement (through participation in sport), upgrading skills (through attending educational courses), or relaxation (through taking time to meet with friends), is lacking, and these deficits might have long-term effects on the health and well-being of these single parents.